Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 5/24/10

Total red meat supplies in freezers on April 30 were down 5 percent from the previous month and down 16 percent from last year, according to USDA's monthly Cold Storage report.

Frozen pork supplies were down 6 percent from the previous month and down 21 percent from last year. Stocks of pork bellies were down 15 percent from last month and down 37 percent from last year. Frozen beef supplies were down 3 percent from a month ago and down 7 percent from a year ago.

Total frozen poultry supplies were up 5 percent from the previous month but down 15 percent from a year ago.

Total stocks of chicken were up 1 percent from the previous month but down 5 percent from last year. Total pounds of turkey in freezers were up 11 percent from last month but
down 26 percent.

Paws piling up

JP Morgan analyst Ken Goldman warned that even as chicken inventories fell from a year ago, some important parts of the bird are starting to pile up in freezers, including breast, leg quarters and paws, due to import restrictions by China and Russia.

"So even though total inventories are down, the chicken data is not wholly positive and should be neutral at best for chicken processors such as Tyson and Sanderson Farms," he wrote in a note to investors.

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